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Monday, April 27, 2009

New (and old) Tricks!

Wow! I've been meaning to write a post about all the cool things Owen and Mason can do but it seems like I always find something else to do instead. We're coming up on 2 years old in just two short weeks...I can't believe it! Here are the accomplishments over the last couple of months...

Owen and Mason can:-recognize all letters of the alphabet except G, V, Y and Z. They still love to turn the J upside down and shout CANDY CANE! I used to teach 4 year olds and the goal was for them to exit PreK knowing 10 letters. Most did, of course, but there were still some who were clueless. So for my kids to turn up knowing 22 of them before 2 is amazing to me!-tell you all the colors and even sort objects by color. -count to ten...one, two, free, four, fi, sis, seben, aaa, nine, TEN!-sing the ABC song...they love to accentuate the "next time won't you sing with MEEEEE! YAY!"..and then they clap for themselves.-speak in 3 to 4 word sentences. some favorites are "I'll do it." "Mommy hold it." "(Someone's name), where are you?" "I hear 'em" (referring to the dog barking or Granna whistling while playing hide-and-seek). "Take a baff." "Get up" when they want you to get up and go somewhere with them. "Hold you" when they want to be picked up. "Shut the door"...Mason's little voice as he says it is so cute. It comes out as "Shucka door." "Open it" has been shortened to 'Ope nit.' They'll even attempt the hard words with pretty good accuracy...'umbella' 'ocotus' and band-aid has been reversed to 'am baid.' They both understand the meaning of yes and no, big and little. Owen loves the little version of his big blankie. He calls it little but pronounces it 'iggle' and it is so darn cute. The other day Daddy was doing yard work and the kids came outside as he was finishing up. Owen saw the pruning clippers, squatted down, picked them up, and said "wow! woooow!!" I guess he knows the meaning of that too. He sure was impressed!

They are getting better at sharing and taking turns. Poor kids are forced to share everything being twins. They are very possessive of THEIR milk cup though. Owen's is blue and Mason's is green...and don't you forget it! But most other times I hear them letting the other one know when it's his turn for something. Owen will tell Mason "Owen's turn" and vice versa. They are so sweet towards each other too. If one is crying the other will bring him his blankie and/or pacifier. Ugh! Speaking of pacifiers...we're about to ditch 'em but just can't bite the bullet and do it!

The amazing thing to me is their vocabulary. Apparently, by two years old kids are expected to have something like a 50 word vocabulary. I know they have at least 200 words by now and they pick up a new word for something by just hearing it once. The other day I realized they knew the word starfish and even knew which object was the star and which was the starfish when we were playing our color sorting game.

Right now they are crazy about pirates, soccer, and surfing. They love to walk around singing..."A pirate, a pirate, a pirate says AARGH!" and "treasure, treasure, where's the treasure" while pretending to dig up the carpet with a shovel. They also love throwing or kicking a soccer ball and yelling "SOCCER!" Another favorite thing they do is pretend to surf while standing on a lid to those plastic bins. They say "surf's up, hooooo daddy" and then they fall down and say "wipeout!" The get all these ideas from a few different Backyardigans episodes. I know people say TV is bad for kids but so far, in our case, it has really helped their imagination when they are just in their room playing.

Bath time is also crazy around here. Naked babies egging each other on is so funny. In the tub they love to pretend to go night-night. They lay back in the water and make the snoring noises. Lately Mason has discovered that it is fun to flip over onto his tummy with his face still in the water and then pop up really quickly. He used to be freaked out by this. I am hopeful that this is a good sign for a fun summer of swimming and less clinging while in the water. After bath they turn things up a notch by wanting to flop around in their diaper on our bed. (We lay them on our bed right after bath to dry off and put on PJs)...so much so that we are getting them an inflatable bouncer for their birthday. The darn bed is just too scary for mom and dad to let them flop around on. Someone's gonna break a neck!

Granna taught them how to play hide and seek. She hides and they seek. One of the times she hid on the other side of our bed. The kids were having trouble finding her so I coaxed them into my room. They followed my into the bathroom and looked in the closet. Mason said, "noooo" when he didn't see her. Then they were both standing there in thought wondering where she could be. Owen was looking straight at her but I guess didn't realize it at first. His serious face turned into a giant grin as he spotted her and then he yelled "YA!" It was so darn cute! He ran over and gave her a big hug, pulled her hand to get her up, and demanded "again, again!"

We're gearing up for potty training, swimming lessons, toddler gym, and Mother's Day Out (in the fall).

These kids are just amazing and I have no idea what I did with myself before May 10, 2007. If you ever spend just 5 minutes with them you will see what we mean. They are true blessings and we just love these little boys!